Little progress in China-India talks

by Mark Magnier - Dec. 17, 2010 12:00 AMLos Angeles Times

NEW DELHI - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Thursday in New Delhi, the main event of a three-day summit aimed at building trust and reducing long-standing irritants. But they announced no substantive breakthrough and little progress on border disputes, access to shared water resources or security issues.

Nor was there any apparent progress on India's bid to open Chinese markets to its software, pharmaceuticals and farm products.

The two rising Asian superpowers made some modest progress on the economic front, pledging to expand trade to $100 billion by 2015 from $60 billion at present and to try to reduce the trade gap. China is India's largest trading partner, but trade flows are heavily weighted in Beijing's favor.

The two leaders also agreed to set up a hot line, and both sides spoke about the need for improved ties.

"I hope that my visit will help increase our cooperation in a wide range of fields and raise our friendship and cooperation to an even higher level," Wen told reporters on leaving a welcoming ceremony at the presidential palace.

"A strong partnership between India and China will contribute to long-term peace, stability, prosperity and development in Asia and the world," Singh added.

But any move to turn the regional cooperation rhetoric into reality will quickly run into roadblocks, analysts said, given their differences over Iran's nuclear ambitions, North Korea's long-standing conflict with the international community and continued warfare in Afghanistan.

The two leaders reportedly discussed many of their nations' core differences, including Pakistan, divided Kashmir and the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader based in northern India who is considered a "splittist" enemy of a unified China by Beijing.

But neither side made any significant concessions.

China claims much of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, while India wants China to back away from a slice of territory it controls in Kashmir, the disputed South Asia region largely divided between India and Pakistan.

"It will not be easy to completely resolve this question," Wen said in a speech. "It requires patience and will take a fairly long period of time. Only with sincerity, mutual trust and the perseverance, can we eventually find a fair, reasonable and a mutually acceptable solution."

In other words, said analysts: Don't hold your breath. Add it up, they said, and this meeting - the 11th between the two leaders in the past five years - accomplished relatively little.